The Kentuckiana Health Collaborative’s staff recently met to review the 2023-2025 Board-approved strategic plan to determine the best path forward to implement the plan and fulfill KHC’s mission. Like others in the healthcare industry, along with employers and community members, we recognize that maternal health, obesity, and mental health in our nation and local communities are worsening and that disparities are ever present. In 2022, America’s Health Rankings ranked Kentucky 43rd in the nation for overall heath. Kentucky is one of the 10 unhealthiest states, ranking 45th in behavioral health frequent mental distress and48th for obesity in adults and youth. It also has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality at 37.7 per 100,000 live births. These numbers paint a bleak picture but there is reason to remain optimistic.
KHC’s mission is to work collaboratively with healthcare purchasers and stakeholders to build healthier communities through high quality, affordable, and equitable healthcare across Kentucky and Southern Indiana. To that end, we have decided to focus the implementation of the KHC’s strategic plan on maternal health, obesity, and mental health, areas where we believe the KHC can make an impact. Each focus area will be viewed through the lens of KHC’s mission and will be addressed through these initiatives: data and measurement, education, partner engagement, policy and advocacy, and transparency.
Your input in how we develop actionable initiatives in these focus areas is important to us. We are currently scheduling meetings with various leaders in these areas to learn more about the needs specific to communities in Kentucky and Southern Indiana. None of these focus areas are new to the KHC. For several years we’ve highlighted each in our annual conferences, community forums, employer roundtables, and educational webinars.
Continued Partnerships and Member Engagement
In addition to the KHC’s efforts related to maternal health, obesity, and mental health, we will continue our work with the Kentucky Department of Public Health related to community health workers, diabetes management and prevention, and quality measurement. We are also working with The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky and the Kentucky Partnership for Health Improvement to educate and encourage employers across the state to engage their employees with preventive care. We will also continue our quality measurement work with the support of our multiple stakeholder groups. The KHC will remain a regional leader for the LeapFrog Group and the Hospital Safety Grade process as well as a member and board representative for the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions, where we engage with and learn from coalitions across the country.
KHC member support and engagement is vital not just to KHC’s success but to the mission of building healthier communities. Our newsletter has been a prime communication tool with both members and non-members who want to keep up with KHC’s activities. In an effort of continuous improvement, we will begin delivering the newsletter to our subscription list quarterly and will begin a CEO Update monthly to members only starting in August.
We’ve heard from many of you that you miss the networking opportunities of face-to-face meetings and have heard from others who enjoy the accessibility of virtual meetings. While it’s challenging to meet the needs of everyone, we’re going to try a combination of these meeting formats. All-Member Meetings and several other member meetings will be offered virtually. Our Community Health Forums will be held in-person in September and December2023. We’ll continue to review our event formats to ensure we’re meeting the needs of both our members and our partners in the community.
We want to hear your thoughts on our work. Reach out to Jenny Goins at jgoins@khcollaborative.org with any questions or thoughts.
